German Laid-open application (DE 4009860) discloses a method and an apparatus for manufacturing steel strips. However, the high-quality steels which require use of temperature controlled rolls, can not be produced by the disclosed method without certain limitations. In particular, this method of manufacturing of the high-quality steels is not sufficiently flexible with regard to the final thickness and to the final rolling temperature for manufacturing high-quality steels, which require a temperature above the maximum temperature achievable in the equalizing furnace, before the first step (breaking-down), and a noticeably lower temperature before the second step (finish-rolling).
Accordingly, the object of the invention is to provide a method and a apparatus for manufacturing hot rolled steel strips from a continuously cast primary material, which would be flexible enough for manufacturing substantially all known high-quality steels.